Internal-combustion engine.



No. 813,250. PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906. 0. M. STEELE.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION EILEE APR.7,1905 E 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IIVI/E/VTOR CLARENCEM.STEELF ATTORNEYS No. 813,250. PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906.

G. M. STEELE.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGIN? APPLICATION FILED APR- 7.1905

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HEW/$11 ,111,

/ fl/IIIIIIIIIIII W CLARENCE. M.STEELE.

w v ATTORNEYS of the connections for the the free outlet discharge parallel crank shafts.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLARENCE M. STEELE, OF STATESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA.

' INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

To all whom it -may concern.-

Be it known that I, CLARENCE M. STEELE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Statesville, in the county of Iredell and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of a new and improved internal-combustion engine. Its object is to eliminate or neutralize the shock resulting from the explosion of the charge and its effect upon the engine and to provide means for more effectually air-cooling the parts.

To these ends it consists in mounting the piston and cylinder, respectively, upon separate parallel crank-shafts, so that the explosion of the charge causes the cylinder to yield in one direction and the piston in the other, the cylinder turning one crank-shaft and the iston the other, both shafts being connected idy toothed wheels running in opposite direction.

It also consists in the means for strengthening the light cylinder and increasing the radiating-surface and in other accessories essential to an engine working on the above-described princi 1e, as will be hereinafter fully described wit reference to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a plan view; Fig. 3, a detail showing a cross-section of the cylinder; Fig. 3*, a modification of the same; Fig. 4, a detail showinga portion of the cylinder in side view. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail of the intake connections for the moving cylinder; Fig. 6, an enlarged detail of the exhaust connection for the same. Figs. 7 and 8 are details showing the adjacent faces exhaust whereby is maintained in spite of the movement of the cylinder, and

ig. 9 is a detail of a modification of the gears.

In the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, (t represents the bed-plate of the engine, and b bare two mounted in bearings thereon. These crank-shafts have crank extensions on one side of the bed-plate. on

which are hung, respectively, the cylinder (1 and the pistonf. T e throw of each crank is ust one-half of the stroke of the engine, so

that both crank-shafts revolving together move outwardly at the. same time and inwardly at the sametnne, and thus-accommodate the full stroke of the engine, the cyl- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application fi1ed pri 7, 1905- Serial No. 254,312.

. Patented Feb. 20, 1906.

inder and piston reciprocating vertically in unison and reciprocating horizontally-to and from each other. As shown in Fig. 2, the crank-shafts are geared together by two large gear-wheels c c of equal size. For varying the speed intermediate-gears may be employed, as seen in Fig. 9. In this View the small wheels c c are the same wheels as the large ones bearing the same letters in Fig. 2, except' that they are made smaller to give space between them. i In this space larger internieshing gear-wheels c c of equal size are arranged to mesh, respectively, With c and c.

The power taken off from the shafts of these gears c 0?, it will be seen, is at a very much reduced speed, depending upon the ratio of the teeth of wheels 0 c to the teeth of ,c c; The cylinder dis provided at its outer endwith a bearing e, which embraces the crank of shaft 6, while the piston f is formed with abox. g, which embraces the crank of the othershaft b.

The cylinder (Z is formed at its open end with two horizontally-extended parallel bars h and h, which inclose between them the box 9 of the piston and form guides in which the box slides for holding the piston and cylinder parallel. The outer ends of these guides are preferably connected by a crosspiece 72 forming a yoke. inclosing the crank-shaft b and serving. to stiffen and strengthen the guidesh h. The cranks of-the two shafts are set in gear so as to be always on a level with each other, the one carrying the cylinder and its attached arts and the other the piston and giving to t to the throw of the two cranks combined. lVith this arrangement it will be seen'that the shock of the explosion-will be taken up equally by the two cranks counteracting or neutralizing each other, andthus eliminating the recoil and increasing the power and economy of the engine by the amount or power ordinarily lost in the recoil of engines having either the cylinder or piston stationary. As the cylinder in which the charge is exploded has a rotary parallel movement with its piston,some special provision mustbe made for maintaining the connections for 'the-intake and exhaust passages.

To connect the fuel-supply, (see Figs. 1, 2. 5,) the outer end of the cylinder is formed with a hollow extension 1, Fig. l, having'a partition in which is seated a springheld inlet-valve j, which, as shown, is opened from the suction of the piston in the cylinder. The outer-end of this hollow ex ension is cone engine a stroke equal d er-crank.

the fuel-supply. As shown, the intake-valve is of the usual puppet type, operating automatically; but it may be operated in any other way.

I will now describe'how the moving cylinder maintains its communication with the exhaust-pipe. For this purpose the cylinder at its outer end is provided with ,a s'econd holsion 1.

low extension 2 just above the intake exten- This extension has in it a partition in which lays a horizontally-arranged valve 76. (See igs. 2 and 6.) low extension has a circular lateral outlet 16, having an annular groove in its'iace provided with a packing-ring 20, whichtightly rests against a larger disk or flange 17, formed about the end of the stationary exhaust-pipe 1.8.' The lateral outlet 16 is of such size in relation to the disk 17 that although itis always eccentric to said disk yet it always registers with the outlet-opening in the center of such disk, and this is true for ailpositions of the cylinder in its parallel rotary movement, as seen by the dotted lines in Fig. 7 which represent different positions or" the outlet 16 thereu on. This packed outiet-opening 16, itwill e seen, constantly scours against the flange or disk 17 and both maintains a tight joint therewith and a constant communication with the outlcbpipe i8. Cfhe exhaustvalve 7c is positively operated as "follows: Its stern passes through the side of the hollow extension 2 and is surrounded by a spiralspring which presses against an enlarged head 8 to normally hold the valve closed. To open it at the proper time, a push-plate 9 is at the proper time forted'egainst the head 8 of the valve-stem as follows: The plate 9 is carried on a sliding bar 1.0, his. 6, in a guide on the main frame, and this ate 9 is made large enough to always cover area of space traversed by the valve-head 8 it moves with the cylinder, so that the plate when pushed in will strike the valve-head 8 and push the latter in any of its positions. The plate 9 is normally held away from the valve-head by a spring 11 acting on the bar and is forced inby a cam 12, fixed on the side of-a toothed wheel 13, which is in gear with and driven b I a inion 14.- on. the shaft Z), which pinionhas lialf lthe number of teeth of gear 13. The push-plate 9 is preferably constructed as a disk, and it rotatesfreely on its The end. of this 1101- 4 Figs.

rangecl. close together and a points on the shafts y erases valve head 8 the disk turns with the valvehe a .l,= to reduce friction, at the same time that the valve-head is being forced in by the disk. As the gear 13 revolves its cam 12' strikes the end of the bar-10, and to cause the valve toopen sooner or later or for a longer or shorter exhaust the positionof the cam 12. ten the gear is pre'lerably made ad ustable.

The gear 13 is fixed to a short shaft 19, and on the end of this shaft is the revolving contact point 15 for closing the circuit of the spark device, which circuit is completed through wire 11) and spark-plug s, as seen in Fig. 1, a welhknown way, which need not be further described.

In. constructing any engine the weight of the cylinder and piston are counterbalanced on their respective shafts by cuttin away the rims of their respective fly-whee s w w on the same side with the cranks, as at m, Fig. 1, orby weighting these fiy-wheels opposite the cranks in the well-known manner.

It is advisable to have the cylinder of this engine light as possible. To accomplish this and get the strength and at the same time increase the radiatingsurface, I cast the cyl' 1 inder light, with parallel ribs 1" on the outside arranged lengthwise the cylinder, as seen in 3 and 4. These. ribsare notched on their outer edges,'and in thesenotches there are wound spirally coils of steel wire q, ar-

distance apart about equal to the thickness of the wire.

,Two or more sets of these'ribs and layers of wire may be used, as seen in Fig. 3",. and their function is to give face to cool the cylin er; As a further means of air-cooling this engine 1 construct 1. the piston hollow and connect it with its box by thin radial blades or ribs f f,

which do not extend. to the back end of the piston. 5 These ribs radiate heat and at the same time throw the air into thepiston as the latter swings around in movement, the openings between the ribs allowing the air to circulate-through and out below on'the upstroke and reversing on the downstrohe.

the vertical plane of its To relieve the compression in starting the engine, the press-plateg is manually thrown against the outlet valve .k, and for this purpose a lever u. is fulcrumed to the bed-frame a, so as to swing, and the inner endof this; lever isv made to bear against the side of the press-plate opposite the valve.

in carrying out, my invention I do not coniine myself to the special arrangement of shown and-described. I may for instance, use pistons and may han them at any suitable b or may otherwise modify the construction without departing from the scope of my inventionas set orth in the claims. I 5

thus described nay-invention, what eat radiating-sure ters Patent, is-

1. An internal-combustion engine, comprising-two parallel crankshafts, a cylinder hun on one crank-shaft and a piston hung on t 1e other crank-shaft, means for holding the same parallel, and means for maintaining the intake and exhaust connections.

2. An internal-combustion engine, comprising a pair of parallel crank-shafts, gears,

for connecting them to run in ppposite directions and at the same speed, the combined throw of the cranks equaling the stroke of the engine, a cylinder mounted upon one crank, and a piston mounted upon the other crank, whereby the shock of the explosion is absorbed equally by the two cranks to eliminate recoil and increase the economy.

3. An internal combustion engine, comprising two parallel crank-shafts, a cylinder mounted on one crank-shaft, a piston mounted upon the other crank-shaft and a flywheel for each crank-shaft having an excess of wei ht on one side to balance the weight of the cylinder and the piston.

4. An internal combustion engine, comprising two parallel crank-shafts, gears for connecting them to run in opposite directions, a cylinder hung on one crank-shaft, a piston hung upon the other crank-shaft, said cranks having together a throw equal to the stroke of the engine and the piston and cylinder having a rectilinear reciprocation to and from each other and a parallel lateral motion at right angles to the line of rectilinear reciprocation. v

5'. An' internal -combustion engine, comprising a crank-shaft, a cylinder hung on the crank of said shaft and a fuel-suppl for the cylinder consisting of a hollow cran having the same stroke'as the crank onwhich thecylinderishung.

- 6. An internal-combustion engine, comprising a crank-shaft, a cylinder hung on the crank of said shaft, and an exhaust connection for the cylinder consisting of a station aryvexhaust-pipe having a terminal face plate with the exhaust-pipe o enin' through the center of it, the plane 0. the ace-plate being parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder and a lateral outlet from the cylinder lying arallel to and'scouring against said face-plate.

7. Aninternal-combustion engine, comprising a crank-shaft, a cylinder hung on the crank of said shaft andaniaxhanst connection for the cylinder consisting of two scouring-faces, both of said faces having openings through them and one of said faces having an extended flange to always cover the opening in the other ace throughout all positions of the cylinder.

8. An internal '-'combustion engine, com

prising a crank-shaft, a cylinder hung on the crank of said shaft, an exhaust-valve having a stem extendin laterally to the cylinder and partaking o the rotar' motiorfof the said cylinder, mechanism or olpening said' exhaust-valve consisting of a re tionary pushplate made large enough to cover the traverse of the exhaust-Va ve, a

stationary frame supporting said push-plate and means for forcing the push-plate against the valve. g 9. An internalcombustion engine, comprising a crank-shaft, a cylinder hung on the crank of said shaft, an exhaust-valve extending laterally to the. cylinder and mechanism for opening said exhaust-valve consisting of a push-plate made large enough to cover the traverse of said valve, said push-plate bein constructed and arranged to revolve an means for forcing it against the valve. v

10. An internal-combustion engine, comprising a crank-shaft, a cylinder hung on the crank of said shaft, an exhaust-walveextending laterally to the cylinder, a dpush-plate for opening said exhaust-valve ma e large enough to cover'the traverseof saidvalve, means for automatically operating the push plate by the engine and meansfor operating the push- -plate manually and at will in starting the engine.

11. An internal-combustion engine, comprising a crank-shaft, a cylinder hung on the crank of said shaft, an exhaust-valve extending'laterally to the cylinder, a ush-plate covering the traverse of said va ve, a slide-bar attached to the push-plate, a gear-wheel hav-' ing a-eam' on its side operating the slide-bar and another gear-wheel meshing with the first-named and fixed to the crank-shaft.

- CLARENCE M. STEELE. Witnesses:

, -HENRY OSCAR STEELE, J. H. RocKwnLL.

atively sta-x 

